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<p>Well Pitt also has the juggernaut called UPMC. The main hospital, Presbyterian, is within walking distance from the dorms and so are a couple other ones. UPMC’s presence is enormous.</p>
<p>Pitt is the place to be for pre-med. My friends in pre-med have been able to do a lot of cool work at UMPC–research, shadow doctors, deal with patients, etc.</p>
<p>Pitt definitely has a campus. It’s not in the City of Pittsburgh that you see from the blimp when watching the Steeler games. It’s in an outlying neighborhood. It’s still considered city and it’s urban with a busy street 4-6 lane street intersecting the middle of the campus, but between the Tower of Learning set within a grassy lawn, the adjoining park and the other buildings on side streets it doesn’t feel like a big city (at least not to me, and I lived in Manhattan for a few years). On the other hand, you should keep in mind that those hospitals on one side of the street do have a LOT of ambulances and helicopters coming and going, and that there’s a busway on the main road. It’s not quiet, although I suspect based on my experience in NYC that you get to the point where you don’t hear the ambulances and traffic anymore. I’ve been to Pitt on Saturday mornings and on Sundays when it’s very quiet and peaceful.</p>
<p>One correction about Duquesne - it’s not really a city campus, oddly enough. Even though it sits on a bluff overlooking the downtown and is closer to the heart of downtown Pittsburgh than Pitt, Duquesne has a lovely campus with lots of green space. It sits next to another hospital. </p>
<p>Aside from Pitt, Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne, Pittsburgh has several other schools: Robert Morris University, Point Park College, Carlow, and Allegheny County Community College. Frankly, there are so many schools within a relatively short driving distance from Pittsburgh that it’s hard to remember them all: Washington & Jefferson, St. Vincent, LaRoche, Grove City, Slippery Rock, IUP, Waynesburg, branch campus of PSU, and more. Some schools like IUP have opened satellite campuses too, and Temple and Drexel have satellite med school programs.</p>
<p>thank you for the advice Math4breakfast, schritzo, and pittpanther; however, I am not planning on taking the pre-med route. I want to go into research.</p>
<p>IMaGecko,</p>
<p>Pitt is a great school for doing research whether you are looking at medical research or just pure science. I know a ton of people doing research in Pitt’s Biology and Chemistry departments as well as UPMC (and I am sure the other department have lots of undergrads as well). </p>
<p>One friend is doing molecular biology research in biology department on brain development in rats. </p>
<p>Another friend is doing organic chemistry research perfecting a reaction pathway for some sort of synthesis of a drug. </p>
<p>I am knocking out cells in malaria parasites to look for vaccine candidates in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health. </p>
<p>Another friend is doing research on balance in cats at UPMC presby.</p>
<p>We are all freshmen</p>
<p>In other words, there are TONS of opportunities to do research here as a undergraduate even without experience and as a freshman.</p>
<p>Cutting Edge,</p>
<p>I’ll be attending Pitt next year and I am very interested in research in neuroscience on a pre-med track. I want to get involved in research quickly and during my freshman year. How did you and all of your friends get so involved within you freshman year?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Cutting Edge: that is great to hear! Sounds really cool :)</p>
<p>hey guys i have some really great links that give a great perspective of the City of Pittsburgh versus the University of Pittsburgh. Make a tab for all three and explore!</p>
<p>[University</a> of Pittsburgh](<a href=“http://www.tour.pitt.edu/tour-005-map.html]University”>http://www.tour.pitt.edu/tour-005-map.html)</p>
<p>[Maps</a> and Virtual Tour | University of Pittsburgh](<a href=“http://www.tour.pitt.edu/]Maps”>http://www.tour.pitt.edu/)</p>
<p>(check out the map on the lower left of this one^^^)</p>
<p>[Pieces</a> of Pittsburgh - PittsburghSkyline.com – Original Photography from the City of Pittsburgh by Matt Robinson](<a href=“http://pittsburghskyline.com/content/2006/06/13/pieces-of-pittsburgh/]Pieces”>http://pittsburghskyline.com/content/2006/06/13/pieces-of-pittsburgh/)</p>
<p>Even better…go to Google maps, locate Pitt, then drag the little yellow guy onto the street. You get a fully interactive street-level view…it’s really cool!</p>
<p>Pitt is interesting, as it pretty much shares its own sister city of the city of Pittsburgh with Carnegie Mellon. Being a Pittsburgher, I am not too fond of the area, but a lot of OOS-ers fall in love with it.</p>